Research
Background
Hearing loss and balance dysfunction affect millions of people world-wide, with the most common underlying reason being the irreversible loss of specialized sensory hair cells that transmit information about hearing and balance. Our lab aims to identify what molecular pathways can be manipulated to stimulate hair cell regeneration in mammals following injury, ultimately restoring hearing and balance.
Approach
We study regeneration in the context of injury models of the hearing and balance organs. By leveraging cutting edge computational tools, combined with systems biology approaches and in vivo experiments, we seek to decipher mechanisms of mammalian hair cell regeneration.
Areas of research focus
1. Mitotic regeneration in the inner ear: Using an in vivo hair cell ablation model combined with single cell RNA seq and lineage tracing experiments, we aim to gain an in-depth understanding of mitotic hair cell and supporting cell regeneration.
2. Development: We seek to learn the developmental cues that are responsible for patterning of the inner ear organs. Our goal is to determine how we can use developmental cues to arrive at regenerative therapies.
3. Application of computational tools: We aim to apply the latest computational and multi-omics tools to answer fundamental questions of development and regeneration within the inner ear across multiple species.
4. Translational: We are interested in leveraging our ability to access human inner ear tissues with cutting edge discoveries made in our mammalian mouse models. We are also interested in the genetics of hearing loss and how this relates to cochlear implant performance.
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